Terms & Conditions

AccountPlus is an open source software for account/expense sharing. Users of AccountPlus can use the application in their own way. If at any stage, the user wants to make some modification/enhancement in the application, he/she is free to do the same. Any suggestions/queries are most welcome from the author’s side. For any queries, please write a mail with subject line ‘AccountPlus’.

Technical Details

AccountPlus is developed using Microsoft.NET technology. It uses C# as a code language. AccountPlus is specially designed and shared for the beginners and intermediate level programmers to understand, design and implement the entire SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle). Also it may be helpful to understand

Implementation of Data Access Layer which supports multiple databases

Global Logging/ Tracing using log4Net

Better use of .NET winform controls

Globalization and localization

Componentization of any application.

Use of XML

Design Pattern (Used in Data Access Layer)

Functional Overview

AccountPlus is an application which can be used for shared account/expense management with proper reporting and general analytics.

In order to justify the significance of AccountPlus, we should compare the traditional account management system (paper based account management) with the features of AccountPlus.

Paper Based Account Management: Many times, it happens that multiple people share their daily expenditures. To maintain all these accounts, usually we use paper to keep track of all the individual expenses.

Drawbacks of Paper Based Account Management System

At the end of the month, it involves a tedious calculation to find out who had expensed what, and how much amount someone is either supposed to pay or got from others.

Another major drawback of paper based account management system is that we won't be able to analyze on which item our expense is increasing so that we can control the same.

Paper based Account Management system has some security flaws like someone can very easily alter the expenses entered by others.

Like this, there are many disadvantages of paper based account management. But with the help of AccountPlus, at every instant we are capable of analyzing the expenses and doing the proper kind of analysis to have a better control on expenditure with full security.

User interface layer of account plus contains all the forms and base class to provide style to the user interface. User interface of the application interacts with Business Layer and very rarely with Data Access Layer to fulfill the request or business action made by the user. Also this layer interacts with Messaging component of the AccountPlus very frequently for displaying the messages to the user interface.

Business Layer

Business Layer is the core part of the application. This component contains all the business logics being used by the application. This component interacts very frequently with the Data Access Layer for writing and reading the data to or from the AccountPlus database.

Data Access Layer

Data Access Layer is one among the most important components of the application. This is an independent component. This layer enables the application to interact with the AccountPlus data base in an efficient manner. Data Access Layer is independent of database i.e. it may support all kind of databases e.g. MS Access, Excel, SQL Server, MySql, Oracle and etc. This component may be as it is used for any other application also.

Also it has three more small components for Messaging, Configuration and Formatting. Following are the details of these components

Messaging

This component is used to make application scalable in terms of achieving Globalization and Localization. Current version mainly uses this component as a message repository. This helps the application in managing the various application from a single place. This holds application into a resource file.

Configuration

This component is used to for reading the application level configuration i.e. the configuration details stored into App.config file.

Formatting

This component is responsible for formatting various data types being used by the application.

As it’s a complete application hence it’s little difficult to explain each and every component, so I would be mainly explaining the re usable components.

4.1 How to View/ Debug the source code?

Follow the steps below to view / debug AccountPlus source code

From the downloaded files search for AccountPlusSource.zip file and Unzip the same.

Find for AccountPlus.sln file and double click to open the same.

Make sure all the references are present.

Copy the AccountPlus.mdb file to appropriate location say X:\AccountPlusDatabase\AccountPlus.mdb where X is your local drive. Modify the ConnectionStrings section of app.config file for the key MSAccessCon with the path of your AccountPlus.mdb file

For Logging/ Tracing AccountPlus uses log4net. If reference to log4net is missing into AccountPlus.BusinessLogic component refer from the Assemblies directory of AccountPlusSource directory.

AccountPlus.DataAccess component uses MySql.Data library for connection with MySql database. MySql.Data library is a part of MySql Connector for .NET. If referenced the MySql.Data library is missing you may download the same from the following URL

4.2 Exception Handling

Exception handling is one of the important aspects while developing any software/ application. AccountPlus displays the exception occurred to the user in a screen also it logs the exception to the log file with the help of log4Net.

Following is the screen which displays any unhandled exception encountered by the application. This screen is brought from one place only i.e. one place exception handling.

Above exception handling logic is implemented to the Program class of AccountPlus.UserInterface. Program is the class which is generated automatically by the visual studio. Program class contains the Main() method which is the entry point to the application.

In order to implement above kind of exception handling follow the steps

Add ThreadExceptionEventHandler to monitor all the thread exception occurred into the application

Implement Application_ThreadException method which will include the logic to log the error and bring the error screen. (Refer actual implementation from the Program.cs class)

4.3 Logging exceptions with the help of log4net

AccountPlus uses Open Source library log4Net for logging the exceptions or errors to the log file. Logger.cs class of AccountPlus.BusinessLogic is implements necessary methods to log the informations to the log file.

By implementing the above points (a & b) we would be now able to implement Logging with the help of log4net library.

AccountPlus has flexibility to Log the exceptions into a separate file for each date or log all the exceptions into a single file. This feature is controlled with the help of app.config file’s appSettings section’s key ‘dateWiseLogTrace’

4.4 Globalization & Localization

In fact AccountPlus does not implement the Globalization and Localization concept truly sense, but Globalization/ Localization concept is implemented into the AccountPlus.Messaging component of the application. This component includes a resource file MessageResource.resx, this file contains all the messages which are displayed to the user interface. Managing messages like this gives flexibility to do changes into text from one place without altering user interface or business logic. Currently any culture is not set for the application, but in future very easily we can include culture specific messages.

Please refer the points below to know how messages are stored or retrieved to or from the resource file

Messages are stored into resource file with a unique key value for each message.

MessageManager class of the messaging component includes all the logic to read the messages from resource file. GetMessage, DisplayMessage and its various overloads are responsible for fething and formatting the messages.

4.5 Data Security

AccountPlus stores all credentials into database by encrypting the data into certain format. DataSecurity class of the AccountPlus.BusinessLogic component is responsible for encryption/ decryption of the data.

DataSecurity class exposes two public methods Encrypt and Decrypt to encrypt or decrypt the strings

4.6 XML Manipulation

AccountPlus stores some of the user preferences to XML file i.e. Preferences.xml which use to be present into the root directory of the application. Preferences class of the AccountPlus.BusinessLogic component is responsible for reading or writing the user preferences data. This class (Preferences.cs) internally uses XmlHelper class which takes care of getting or setting the data into Preferences.xml file.

Following is the schema for the schema for the Preferences.xml

XmlHelper class mainly exposes two methods to get or set the data for any specific user preference.

4.7 Data Access

Data Access Layer i.e. AccountPlus.DataAccess component of the AccountPlus may be most preferred reusable component. Without any modification this component may be used for reading or writing the data to any data base (Tested for MS Access, SQL Server and MySQL). Current version of Data Access Layer does not support transactions, it would be implemented soon.

Following are the various class files contained by Data Access Layer

How multiple databases are supported by AccountPlus Data Access Layer?

Support to multiple database is achieved with the help of various interfaces IDbConnection, IDbCommand, IDataParameter, IDataAdapter and etc exposed by System.Data library of .NET Framework.

We will see implementation of ExecuteScalar method of Data Access Layer to understand how it works

Note: Do remember to enter appropriate currency in Step 4, i.e. Rs. Or $ or anything so that your expenses are represented into the same currency. By default installer configures MS Access database, however it may be customized for any database.

AccountPlus may work with any of the database for example MS Access, MySql, SQL Server and Oracle. By default installer configures MS Access database for the application however it may be changed to any database. Downloaded package contains the db scripts for MySQL and SQL Server Database.

Follow the steps below to change the database.

Prepare the MySQL or SQL Server database by running the scripts present into the database directory of the downloaded files.

Go to the installation directory of AccountPlus. (Usually is C:\Program Files\AccountPlus)

Find and open the ‘AccountPlus.UI.exe.config’ file in any suitable editor.

Locate 'connectionStrings' section. There you may get the connection strings for MySQL and SQL Server with the name mySqlCon and sqlServerCon respectively. Modify the connection string attribute with suitable values i.e. Appropriate Database name, User Id, Password, Server and Port etc.

Locate ‘appSettings’ setion in the ‘AccountPlus.UI.exe.config’ file. Modify the value of ‘defaultConnection’ with the name of the connection String modified by you in the previous step.

Note: Make sure that while changing/ adding new connection string you are using correct providerName. E.g.

‘ALT+U’ or go to File ->Add->User. Select the user from the grid whose information you want to edit. Selection of any row containing user information will make the user details available to the upper area where details may be changed. Click on ‘Update’ button to save the changes.

‘ALT+U’ or go to File ->Add->User. Select the user from the grid want to deactivate. Selection of any row containing user information will make the user details available to the upper area. Uncheck the ‘Active’ check box and click on ‘Update’ button to save the changes.

‘ALT+U’ or go to File ->Add->User. Select the user from the grid whose information you want to edit. Selection of any row containing user information will make the user details available to the upper area where details may be changed. Click on ‘Update’ button to save the changes.

Select the item against which you want to enter the expense. Selection of item will automatically populate the expense description where as user can change the same. Enter other information like amount and date. Click on the ‘Add’ button to save the changes.

Once item is added successfully, newly added expense details would appear into the expense details grid shown right side of the screen.

Select the particular expense from the grid needs to be edited. Selection of any row containing expense details will make the e details available to the left side of the screen where details may be edited. Click on ‘Update’ button to save the changes.

Select the particular expense from the grid needs to be deleted. Selection of any row containing expense details will make the details available to the left side of the screen where details may be edited or deleted. Click on ‘Delete’ button to delete the expense.

Press F4 or click on the button present on tool bar to open expense report.

Once item is added successfully, newly added expense details would appear into the expense details grid shown right side of the screen.

Expense Report gives us the information about the

Total expense in the tenor.

Number of persons sharing the expense.

How much is the expense for each one. (Individual Contribution)

Based on these three pieces of information, AccountPlus calculates “How much each user has paid, and how much each participant is either supposed to pay to others participants or supposed to get from other participants”.

Press F5 or click on the button present on tool bar to open monthly report.

Select the Month, Year for which report needs to be generated and click on ‘Generate’ button. Apart from the expense details this report will give the information about some other important things like Finalization Date, Total Expense and Days etc.

Press F6 or click on the button present on tool bar to open analytic report.

Select the Month, Year for which report needs to be generated and click on ‘Generate’ button.

Same as Monthly report, Analytic Report also has two views Individual and Monthly.

Whenever we are generating the Analytic Report for a particular Month and Year, the Analytic Engine of AccountPlus checks whether expense data exists for the previous and next month data for the selected month and year. If data exists, Analytic Report will give the trend on a particular item or user about whether the expense has increased or decreased from the previous or next month.

Example

Suppose you have selected Dec, 2007 to generate the analytic report. Now, the Analytic Engine of AccountPlus will check whether the data exists for Nov, 2007 and Jan, 2008. If the data exists, then Analytic Report will compare the expense on each item or expense by users based on the view selected (Individual or Item wise). If data for previous month does not exist then Analytic Report will compare only the selected month and the next month.

In order to understand the Finalization process, we will take the example of paper based account management system. In paper based account management system, at the end of the month, all the expenses occurred needs to be summed up, to calculate the total expense for the month. Then divide the total expense by number of persons supposed to share the expense. Like this, individual contribution is calculated. Now all the members will either receive an amount by another member or pay the amount to other members based on individual contribution and amount paid by each participant.

Once this process is completed, expense sheet needs to be tear up or to be cross marked.

Finalizing the expense in AccountPlus is the same process where admin makes sure that all the users have cleared their dues i.e. each participant have received or paid their dues. After finalizing the expense, current expense details would not be displayed on the home page but the data will remain in the database for analysis and reporting purposes.

Expense report provides information about total expense and the dues for the particular tenor. Pay/Get is very important information in order to clear the dues, this information gives the information among the users about who is supposed to pay and who is supposed to get.

Hello Savun,
Thanks a lot for monitoring the application very carefully and giving really a valuable suggestion. I will be adding the GL module for sure into the application. If you have any link which can help me in implementation of GL Module please provide me the same.

Hi,
I have downloaded and seen your app and the amount of work that has gone in. I would like to say good work and keep updating it. I have not used it but I have been going thru it and understanding the business logic you have used.

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An expert is someone who takes a subject you understand and makes it sound confusing.

Hi,
I used the tool yesterday and here are some possible improvements:

1. In adding items every time I have to click the button to add new, this can be avoided.
2. After adding items with descriptio , again while entering expenses you are asking to enter description, this can be picked up by default from the DB. If needed user will change this at the time of entering expenses.
3. In our normal monthly transactions, we get some money per month as salary or some thing and we will spend from it. There is NO provision to enter "Money Brought To home" and remaining money.

4. Last BUT NOT LEAST, there is NO or VERY LESS Code documentation. Its always good to document code while coding.

Hi Anand,
Thanks for giving time and using 'AccountPlus'. I will try to implement the changes mentioned by you. And as you talked about the less code documentation for coming development I will have this thing mind. Very soon I will put the technical documentation also on the forum.

Just out of curiosity...
Are the improvements that I requested implemented? One more thing, while adding user or item, I have to repeatedly close and open the same dialog again and again to add more users/items. It would be better if you can ask "Add One more" before closing them.

Looks like a very good software for managing expenditures. Also it gives the facility to compare previous month's expenses. It can be used by 1 person or 'N' persons living togather. Automatic calculation reduces the headache of paper work. Good one. Congrats.

Hi Gsans,
Soryy for the incomplete information. In fact document was not complete when I had sent the article for post. Its complete now and contains all the information very soon you will get the technical documentation also. Any way entire source code is given with the application by the time document is not posted you can look into code and in case of any problem please write mail to me on ak.tripathi@yahoo.com